For the week ahead, remember . . . "WE ARE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD!” Jesus has made us righteous once and for all! This means we are righteous, not by our own successes or failures, but by the obedience of Jesus on the cross. This is the beauty of grace! It is this gracethat will produce victorious living, a deeper walk with God, freedomfrom addictions, and supernatural favor. It is not what you can do. It is what God has already done for you. We just need to have Faith in what God has done for us, by sending his son to save us all from our sins. All we have to do is believe and follow Jesus.

Remember; CALLED TO LIFE, CALLED TO LOVE. Lent is the most important time of the year to nurture our inner life. It is the time during which we not only prepare ourselves to celebrate the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also the death and resurrection that constantly takes place within us. Life is a continuingprocess of the death of the old and the familiar, and being reborn again into a new hope, a new trust, and a new love. The death and resurrection of Jesus is not just an historical event, but an inner event that takes place in our own heart when we are willing to be attentive to it..True repentance is an interior attitudein which we are willing to let go of everything that prevents us from growing into spiritual maturity, and there is hardly a moment in our lives in which we are not invited to detach ourselves from certain ways of thinking, ways of speaking, ways of acting, that for a long time gave us energy, but that always again need to be renewed and recreated.

On Maundy Thursday, Christianslook back and remember the way in which Jesus’ whole life was lived in service for others– a signal that we too should use our life and resources in the service of others. Jesus set the example for his disciples. And then He shared with them bread and wine and added to that sharing the promise thatas Christians would do this in remembrance of Him through- out the ages, God’s own power wouldwork within them the forgiveness of sins, and give them new strength to serve and love others.